Windows Live is Back...Sorta
Contrary to popular reports,
some
fueled by our own Stuart Johnston, Microsoft's once-loudly touted Live effort
hasn't hit the skids. As reported in her blog by regular Redmond Developer News
contributor Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft has once again begun talking about the
Live platform, specifically during briefings at the CES show in Las Vegas.
In her posting, Mary
Jo recounts that Microsoft adCenter will sit at the foundation of two freshly
minted categories of Live APIs focused on infrastructure (identity, relationship,
storage, communications, payment/points, advertising and domain APIs) and application
services (instant-messaging/VoIP, search, blogging, mapping, mail/calendar and
classifieds).
When I asked Mary Jo about her thoughts on the change, she said the key thing
was the position of adCenter in all this. Before, Microsoft's ad serving engine
was an optional component of the Live development platform stack. Now it's cooked
into the foundation. This looks like Microsoft Technology Marketing 101. Leverage
one product to open an opportunity for another.
All this is still early action -- Microsoft won't roll out a finished vision
until the Mix 07 conference in April -- but the larger statement is clear. Microsoft
Live, and the Live development platform, are back.
What are your thoughts? Do you plan to kick the Live tires and perhaps start
building online services using the new dev platform? E-mail me at mdesmond@reddevnews.com.
Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/10/2007